This past Saturday night, I was lucky enough to be a part of an amazing community event in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego. Though their businesses approach social and environmental issues in very different ways, five unique endeavors came together for one really fun night, each contributing in their own ways and engaging with their community.

Here's a dilemma many if us can relate to: I have an idea (a really, really good idea) that is going to make the world sound, look, smell, taste, be a better place. And it's going to take some exact dollar amount which is about exactly more than I have access to to get it started. A few more dollars here and there ain't gonna cut it. I need that exact dollar amount or this idea that could revolutionize the world just isn't going to happen... an usually, it doesn't.

Kylie Harper is not a bull-horns, marches, and rallies kind of activist. Not that she has any qualms about organizing her team to hit the streets to take down major corporations, she just does it with a soft voice - and aims for a soft underbelly. When we met up in the cafe of the Housing Works Used Bookstore in Soho, her first words were a softly amazed "I've got to sign this place up."

Amidst the debate over the multi-billion dollar bottled water industry (is it really a debate anymore?), rises another complication in our consumer relationship to water: sure, you’re bringing your own Kleen Kanteen, but how much water was used to make that? Or the jeans you’re wearing, never mind the burger you had for lunch?